Vicente Fernández Mexican Actor Born 1940 in Guadalajara

Early life

Vicente Fernández Gómez was born on 17 February 1940 in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, to a rancher and a housewife. As a small child he went to the cinema with his mother to watch films starring Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, and he told her he wanted to grow up to be like them. At eight he was given a guitar and began learning it while studying folk music.

His family struggled to make a living by selling milk from the cows on their ranch, so after he finished primary school they moved to Tijuana. As a teenager he took a series of jobs, working as a bricklayer, painter and cabinetmaker, and later as a cashier in a restaurant owned by an uncle. He sang while he worked. At fourteen he began performing in restaurants and at weddings and joined several mariachi groups. He took part in the radio programme Amanecer Tapatío, which brought him local recognition, and at twenty-one he appeared on the television show La calandria musical, his first paid engagement.

On 27 December 1963 he married María del Refugio Abarca Villaseñor. In 1965 he moved to Mexico City hoping to build a music career. Record companies at first showed little interest because of the popularity of Javier Solís, but after Solís died in April 1966 Fernández began to receive offers. His first contract was with CBS Records of Mexico,.

Career

His position in the industry strengthened in the 1970s. After the death of José Alfredo Jiménez in 1973, Fernández became a leading figure in ranchera music. The albums La voz que estabas esperando, El rey, El hijo del pueblo and Para recordar each sold in the millions. In 1976 his recording of "Volver, volver", written by Fernando Z. Maldonado in 1972, spread his name across Mexico and the wider Americas; it has since been covered by more than twenty singers, including Chavela Vargas, Ry Cooder and Nana Mouskouri.

During the 1980s his songs moved from the ranchera-bolero blend toward ranchera pieces about migration, such as "Los mandados". He built a ranch called Los 3 Potrillos, which became his production base. His 1983 album 15 grandes con el número 1 was the first of his to pass a million copies. A 1984 concert at the Plaza de Toros México drew 54,000 people, and in 1987 he made his first tour outside Mexico and the United States, visiting Bolivia and Colombia.

In the 1990s he released albums such as Lástima que seas ajena (1993) and La mentira (1998). The American press had by 1991 begun calling him the "Mexican Sinatra". In 2001 he started the Lazos Invencibles tour with his son Alejandro Fernández. La tragedia del vaquero (2006) was certified platinum in the United States, and Primera fila (2008) spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on a Billboard chart. On 14 February 2009 he sang in Mexico City's Zócalo before an audience of nearly 220,000 people, a record for the venue.

In 2012 he recorded "Return to Me" with Tony Bennett for the album Viva Duets.

In February 2012 he announced that he would leave the stage but keep recording. His farewell concert, Un azteca en el Azteca, was held free of charge on 16 April 2016 at Estadio Azteca in front of more than 80,000 people. He sang over forty songs, and his son Alejandro was the only guest. He continued to release albums afterward, including Más romántico que nunca (2018) and A mis 80s (2020).

Fernández also acted and produced films. His first starring part was in La ley del monte (1976), and he made his debut as a producer with El hijo del pueblo in 1974. Many of his films took their titles from songs he performed in them, as in Por tu maldito amor and Mi querido viejo, which in 1991 was his last film.

Recognition

He won Latin Grammy Awards for Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2021, and Grammy Awards for Best Regional Mexican Music Album in 2015 and 2017, the latter for the recording of his farewell concert. He was inducted into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1998, was named Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year in 2002, received the Lo Nuestro Excellence Award in 2008, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was widely known by nicknames such as "Chente".

Personal life

Fernández and his wife María del Refugio Abarca, known as Cuquita, were married from 1963 until his death. His son Alejandro Fernández is also a singer. Fernández died on 12 December 2021.